Pleasant Retreat United Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna pass it right along to you. Way out in Smith County, in the heart of the rose fields of Tyler, there stands a church with a story that goes back further than most folks around here care to remember. Back to 1854, when a deed for two and a half acres was issued to the board of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

That's where it begins. Or at least, that's the earliest the record will say for certain. According to oral history, the congregation first met in a log cabin right there on that property.

One building, two purposes: church on Sunday, school on weekdays. A community doing double duty with what it had. Now, they called it the Black Fork Church in those early days.

But by 1861, the congregation was known as the Pleasant Retreat Society, and by 1875 they'd settled on Pleasant Retreat Church. Three names before they found the one that stuck. Worth noting too, and the marker makes a point of it: African Americans were included among the church membership from its early days.

That's not a footnote. That's part of what this place was built on. Then came June of 1877, and the church acquired land on which the Pleasant Retreat Cemetery would later be established.

And that very same year, in July, a man named William T. McClure, recognized as an early leader of the congregation, deeded five point nine acres of land on which the church held popular camp meetings each August. You can almost hear it, can't you.

Summer air, August heat, folks gathering year after year on land given by a man the community trusted. In 1897, a white frame church building was erected right near that camp meeting tabernacle. That building carried the congregation forward for decades, until 1928, when fire damage prompted the membership to build something new.

A brick building, this time, on Dixie Drive, on land donated by member Walter E. Beaird. Then in 1938, a full-time preacher was appointed.

The congregation kept growing, its facilities expanding as necessary. And in 1968, the church received the name it carries today: Pleasant Retreat United Methodist Church. One congregation, one piece of ground, more than a century of showing up.

In the rose fields of Tyler, that tradition of worship and community service just keeps on going.

What the marker says

This church was organized as early as 1854 when a deed for 2.5 acres was issued to the board of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. According to oral history, the congregation first met in a log cabin on the property. The structure served as both church and school. Originally called the Black Fork Church, the congregation was known as Pleasant Retreat Society in 1861 and was renamed Pleasant Retreat Church by 1875. African Americans were included among the church membership from its early days. In June 1877, the church acquired land on which the Pleasant Retreat Cemetery was later established. In July, William T. McClure, recognized as an early leader of the congregation, deeded 5.9 acres of land on which the church held popular camp meetings each August. In 1897 a white frame church building was erected near the camp meeting tabernacle. The building served until 1928 when fire damage prompted the membership to build a new brick building on Dixie Drive on land donated by member Walter E. Beaird. In 1938 a full-time preacher was appointed. The congregation continued to grow, its facilities expanding as necessary. Renamed the Pleasant Retreat United Methodist Church in 1968, the church in the heart of the rose fields of Tyler continues a long tradition of worship and community service. (1998)